The Empire
by crappyfriend
Summary: The Last King made a decision the day all the kingdoms surrendered to him. He rejected their total surrender and instead made the kingdoms agree to reforms that changed the world. But what if he had decided differently that day. What if he hadn't rejected their total surrender, but accepted it. The world would be quite different from the one we know.
1. Chapter 1

_History is a complicated subject._

It was a regular day at Beacon Academy. Team JNPR and team RWBY had decided to have a picnic to celebrate the fact that the Breach was stopped.

_How our world functions are based on our history._

Winter had shown up not long after to give Weiss a few tips. Of course, Qrow was not far away and had decided that now would be the perfect time to antagonize her.

_Many small events lead up big events that change the world forever._

While Team RWBY and team JNPR started to set their bets, the duel between Qrow and Winter had attracted attention.

_The world would be quite different if one simply changed one detail in the past._

Attention in the form of James Ironwood and Glynda Goodwitch, who quickly made it clear that there would be no duel. Things might have gone back to normal then, but the universe had different plans.

_The further back one changes things the greater the change and the less one can predict the results._

The sound of shattered glass was heard from far above them and the source of it came from Ozpin's office. The glass was shattered by Ozpin himself who had jumped through it and was falling towards them fast.

_An event that greatly shaped the world was when Vale won the Great War._

At the same time, the wind around them started to pick up and the ground started to shake. The people on the ground would have tried to go for safety if a green transparent dome hadn't appeared. It alarmed everyone inside as there was suddenly no way out.

_All nations, even their ally, surrendered to the last King who put the world on a path towards peace._

The wind and the ground had calmed down inside the dome, although outside the dome it had worsened.

Ozpin had landed on top of the dome while everyone else was distracted by what was happening around them. He stood outside of the unaffected by the winds outside that had reached hurricane levels with large objects being taken by the wind. Trees that had stood for decades were uprooted in seconds.

_But what if the King had decided differently that day?_

It wasn't long before Beacon Academy was affected as pieces of the roof were ripped off. These pieces moved towards one of several tornadoes that had started to form around them. The horror that the group felt at the storm that started suddenly was made worse by what happened to those pieces.

They disintegrated and turned into dust. It didn't take long before bigger and bigger pieces of the building were picked up and met the same fate. They could see people too that were turned to dust as well that sent towards the tornado.

_Instead of rejecting their total surrender and helping them rebuild, he accepted it._

They tried to ask Ozpin what was happening but the dome that protected them also made it impossible to communicate with him. He couldn't hear them and they couldn't hear him even when it looked he wanted to say something important to them. It almost looked like he was saying the same words again and again.

Before any of them could try to find out more, the world outside the dome went dark. The last thing they saw before they lost consciousness was a massive tornado that went down right on top of them

_Events that would have been impossible before suddenly became a lot more likely._


	2. Chapter 2

Pyrrha awoke in an unfamiliar, but somehow familiar place.

The last thing she remembered was the green dome and all the destruction that happened around them. She remembered nothing after that and now finds herself in the Emerald forest. Pyrrha could easily tell by the colour of the trees around here, it has a very distinct colour.

That was what made this place familiar until she noticed the newly paved road.

It wasn't anything ancient like the ruins and she was certain that she could smell the distinct smell of fresh asphalt. Before she could question why there would be a newly paved road in a Grimm infested forest, something even stranger once she stepped on the pah.

Two guys, around her age, walked towards her without a care in the world. They were unarmed, unarmoured and loud enough that she could hear them even when they were at least a hundred meters away. Pyrrha didn't understand how a Grimm hadn't attacked them yet!

She pushed down her worries for now and decided to focus on the duties of a huntress for now. After she got the civilians to safety she would try to find out what happened.

It took only seconds to reach them, even less to prepare her weapon and asses the surroundings. Once she deemed it clear of Grimm, for now at least, she turned her attention to the civilians. They wore expressions of surprise, but it quickly changed into a more familiar expression that Pyrrha was used too.

Awe.

"Pyrrha Nikos?!" The blonde nudged the more quiet, but no less excited person in the arm. "Can you believe it, dude? Weren't you supposed to be in Vacuo though, for that new movie?"

Movie? Pyrrha had only played in commercials and had denied any movie roles because it would take up to much time. And she can't remember that she ever visited Vacuo in her life. She decided to ignore it, for now, they must have heard that from a bad source.

"Could you tell me how you managed to get here? How did you get past all the Grimm?" She was still curious about that.

They at her in confusion. "Grimm? Why would there be Grimm in the park of all places." The quiet one decided to join the conversation to further confuse Pyrrha. "How does a Grimm look like anyway?"

Pyrrha was sure that she had never met someone that had managed to forget what Grimm looked like. Not even children asked that question.

The other guy looked at the quiet one with a disappointed look. "Big monsters with white masks and red eyes, don't embarrass me in front of Pyrrha. Don't you remember anything that they teach us at school." He turned to her. "I am so sorry Pyrrha, please don't think I'm as ignorant as this guy."

"I don't think... that?" Was she being filmed? "You mentioned a park? When did the Emerald forest become a park?"

One doesn't usually turn a Grimm infested forest into a park. Usually, that was, those attempts ended all the same way with horrific results.

"When it turned into a park?" The look of awe lessened for the first time. "I don't know, like a century ago when they cleared out all the Grimm."

"They cleared out the forest 97 years ago, it turned into a park ten years later."The quiet one stated.

"Are you seriously saying that you remember that you remember that, but not what a Grimm looks like?"

"Yep."

"I don't even know what to say." The loud one looked at her with suspicion. "Are you even Pyrrha Nikos?"

"What?"

"I mean, shouldn't you know this stuff already. Your clothes and weapon don't make sense either."

Pyrrha had gone through most of her life with every person she met after her first tournament victory knew who she was. She had never been mistaken for someone else and never been called a fraud.

"You look like your in combat gear, but you're fighting in heels. Your weapon looks more like a toy and you look a lot you-"

"Please stop, let's just get out of here before any Grimm decides to attack." At this point, she just wanted to escort them to safety so that she could focus on her situation.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't let her.

"Why should we go with you, you're a complete stranger and one that decided to dress up as Pyrrha Nikos for some reason."

"I have no idea why you would think that." She took up her scroll to display her ID. "I AM Pyrrha Nikos and also a student at Beacon Academy, which means you should at the very least listen to me when it comes to the dangers of Grimm." The guy had somehow managed to get her off all people irritated.

The guy quieted down for the first time and looked at it seriously. Pyrrha hoped they could finally get on their way now, but the laughter stopped that thought.

"If you want to use a fake ID you should at the very least try to get the date right." He could barely control his laughter and the quiet joined in once he read the ID too.

At this point, Pyrrha had given up on this situation and hoped someone would arrive to save her from this. Luckily someone did.

In the form of the red ball of petals that materialized behind the two guys and broke out into a wide smile.

"Pyrrha, I finally found you!" Ruby Rose shouted with glee.

Pyrrha felt the same way. Finally, there was some normalcy that she could anchour herself too. She only wished she hadn't decided to appear where she did as they almost jumped out of fright when she yelled.

"What the he-" The loud one turned to Ruby, but whatever he was about to say was interrupted as his face morphed into an expression of pure horror. "A Silver-eyed demon!"

They both ran away from them at a speed she hadn't thought they could as they both screamed in terror. And left both Pyrrha and Ruby in confusion of what just happened.

"Oops." Ruby wore a sheepish smile. "I didn't think I would scare them that much."

* * *

Lie Ren had no idea where he was.

Nora, Blake, Yang and he had woken up in a small alley, only to see a city that only looked like Vale on the surface. The reason he thought that was the fact that he recognized some of the buildings, but only some of them.

He remembered the street they currently walked on, but many of the buildings he clearly remembered weren't there before. Everything looked so much newer too. He would have looked around more if Nora hadn't called them over to her since she had sprinted ahead.

"Look I'm on TV." She said. "Though I don't remember being on TV."

Ren didn't understand what she talked about until he made it there and looked. What he saw made a mixture of emotions come forth so suddenly that he almost activated his semblance on reflex.

On the screen stood a woman much older than Nora, but the similarities where there even though he could barely what he saw. Things got worse as he read the small text underneath the woman.

**Councillor Nora Valkyrie will speak about the preparations for Unity Day at 09:30**


	3. Chapter 3

Jaune Arc day couldn't be any better. His kids were with their cousin Adrian for the day, he managed to get free from work for at least two days and he could finally catch up to all the TV-shows he had missed.

"Could the day get any bett-" The doorbell rang and Jaune could only hope he didn't jinx himself. "Please don't be work-related."

He brought up the video feed from the camera at the door and knew that he wouldn't get any time to binge today. The trip to the door was only a few steps from the living room, but he dragged it out as much as possible. Who knows, she might go away if he took long enough.

He opened the door to see the familiar black and red uniform. The person who wore it had a wide grin and her rabbit ears were fully perked. At least one of them was happy.

"Hey Velvet. I thought you were still in Mantle." He stepped aside to invite her in. "Weren't you investigating rumours about a Silver-eyed demon up there?"  
She stepped inside, but not before she gave him a hug. "Nice seeing you too Jaune. Do I have to tell Juniper that her son has forgotten how to greet someone, again?"

"No, please don't" He wasn't sure if he could survive another three-hour lecture. "It's just a surprise to see you."

"And?"

"And it's nice to see you." He sighed. "But why are you here though? If your mission is done shouldn't you be on leave until a new one comes in."

The wide grin morphed into a frown and she audibly groaned.

"Well, the rumours from Mantle were false and it turned out just be a person with a weird shade of grey as eye colour. Most reported sightings of them are like that and there was, of course, a new sighting as soon as my transport landed in Vale."

"Why wouldn't they ask someone else?"

"Because I am apparently the only one qualified that's currently in the city. And they can't wait for someone else since Imperial security protocols demand an investigation as soon as possible when a sighting is reported. I came here as soon as I saw the report." She activated her scroll and sent over a file to his scroll.

He read the file and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "It was reported by two teenagers. Is this seriously something that needs to investigated as soon as possible?"

"That not why I came here, read further."

He read further and his eyebrow crept up higher. "A Pyrrha Nikos look-alike?" Of all the things that it could be. "How authentic are we talking about?"

"There's a picture that one of the boys managed to take before running away at the bottom." The picture at the bottom looked exactly like her when she was young. "She even had a fake ID on her and kept saying that she was Pyrrha Nikos. What do you say, Want to come with?"

"Me?"

"Yep, it sort of concerns you since Pyrrha is your wife and with your help, I can be done with the investigation twice as fast." She pleaded to him. "Please help me, I can hear my bed calling for me and I want nothing more than to answer its call."

"Sure, let me just change first and we'll get you to bed in no time." How could he not help when one of his oldest friends asks for his help.

"Thanks, I'll call in a dragonfly and we'll be there in five minutes. Try not to puke in this one!" She yelled the last part as he went into his bedroom.

"It was one time Velvet!"

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch had seen and done a lot of weird things in her life as a huntress. She once tried to fight a beringel, in her underwear, barehanded. Glynda was really drunk after that party. But the situation she was in now had to be the weirdest one yet.

She couldn't remember much from what happened before they woke up here. Only bits and pieces and she were too distracted by her surroundings to think much about that. James, Winter, Weiss and Glynda had woken up in a city that easily beat Atlas in magnificence.

The buildings size and architecture made her feel small and uneasy. Wherever they are must have a powerful military if they managed to build a city this big. Which makes no sense when Atlas, with the world strongest army, couldn't build anything like this.

They tried to contact people with their scrolls, but there was no connection to a network and the people around them were no help either. They avoided them for some unknown reason.

"We should stick together for now," James said. "At this point, we should just walk in a direction and hope we get lucky."

"Are you off all people suggesting we rely on luck" Glynda couldn't believe what she heard.

"It's surprising to me too, but in this situation, there's not a lot we can do."

And that's what they did and they did get lucky. Weiss' scroll got a signal from one of her friends scroll, at least that's what Glynda thought. She didn't get time to ask since Weiss of all people ran the instant she brought up her scroll.

That they didn't lose her in the crowd was only thanks to her distinctive hair colour and that the crowd still did their best to avoid them. They had to only run a few hundred meters until they had to stop when a giant crowd of people stood in the way. Weiss tried to get past the crowd, but they didn't budge or avoid her this time.

"Why can't I get past them, the tracker says they are right past this crowd." She turned around and caught sight of them then, a blush crept up her cheeks and almost reached her ears. "I can't believe I did that."

"It's ok Weiss." She felt a little pride that she had changed so much since she started at Beacon. She would have never done that on her first day. "I only ask that you don't forget that we need to stay together in this kind of situation."

Weiss nodded and went back to her attempt to get past the crowd.

Glynda simply used her semblance to levitate herself higher so that she could see why such a big crowd gathered in the first place. She had a suspicion that team RWBY was somehow behind this, they managed to always show up where trouble appeared. Her suspicions were confirmed once she saw what had gotten everyone's attention.

Yang, Blake, Ren and Nora were in an argument with what she thinks are the police, she didn't recognize the uniform. They certainly acted like it and with the way the argument it wouldn't take long before a fight started. She had to step in and maybe she could get an answer.

She floated over the crowd and landed on the other side past a barricade that had been set up. The police officers quieted once they saw her to the confusion of her students. They turned around and Glynda could easily see the relief they felt when they saw her.

"Professor Goodwitch, I'm so glad that you've found us," Nora exclaimed. "These guys want to take our weapons for some made-up reason."

"It's not 'a made-up reason'." The police officers voice sounded exasperated as if this wasn't the first time he had said this. "You are breaking the law by carrying a weapon without a license in a public space."

"Without a license, didn't you show them your student ID?" Those IDs are valid in every kingdom and the police usually ignore huntsmen.

"We tried, but they said that they don't count." Yang looked annoyed at that. "Are you even real police officers?"

"It's not our identity that is in question. Call in a squad of Protectors, I don't think they are going to listen to reason at this point."

"They'll be here at any moment, HQ had already sent out a dozen because of a situation in the Emerald National Park." They shook their head in disappointment. "And I almost thought I would be able to go home early today."

She didn't get time to talk more as four identical androids landed not too far from them.

"Lay down your weapons and surrender citizen or we will be made to use force to stop you. "Their eyes glowed green as the next words were said." If you prove to be a danger to the public, we will then be authorized to use lethal force." The voice used was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

Glynda prepared for battle at their words and only hesitated when she realized who the voice sounded like.

"Penny?"


End file.
